Fire in My Heart, Ice in My Veins
by tiredpidge
Summary: Magnus Chase plays defence for the Vikings hockey team. He is their best player, never letting the puck get past him. That is, until he comes face to face with Alex Fierro, the newest centre player for the Wolves. With a new tournament on the way, Magnus has to learn to focus and play better than he ever has before, all the while trying to get a grip on his rivalry situation
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, this is my first MCGA fanfiction! It's also posted on AO3 under the same title and username if you'd prefer to read it there! :) I'm very nervous about posting this so positive reviews are hiiiighly appreciated! Thanks! :)

The large, black duffle bag was slung haphazardly across the Magnus Chase's shoulder, weighing his left side down as he dashed through the hallways of the school. It was late, nearly 7pm, yet Magnus had a reason for being there.

A buzzer was heard down the corridor. A loud, aggressive buzzer that made his heart jump and his legs pick up their pace.

The game was starting.

In Magnus' defence, it wasn't necessarily his fault that he was late. He could blame a number of people, however the fact of the matter was that he lived quite a distance away from the school, his family didn't own a car, and the bus into town didn't run this late at night. That meant, he was left with only one other option: to run.

Magnus made it to the end of the hallway, and now his legs were absolutely aching. He wasn't quite sure if it was from anticipation or the exhaustion from running, but he was hoping it wasn't the latter. Now was not the time to be tired or sore. He had to be at is best for this game, because it was the first game of the season, against the Wolves, no less.

See, Magnus attended a casual, typical public high school in the city of Boston. This school was mostly known for it's varsity co-ed hockey team, the Vikings. They were legends, dominating every tournament, and had made it to the National Championship on more than one occasion. As a kid in elementary school trying out for hockey for the first time, Magnus looked up to the Vikings. He wanted nothing more than to attend that high school when he was older and make the team, hopefully playing the starting line. For a moment, actually, he completely lost sight of this dream. Magnus had bigger things and issues to deal with at that time in his life, but soon enough he was back on his feet and being enrolled for classes at the high school of his dreams. Tryouts came up fast, and Magnus was a little rusty having been off the ice for so long.

That was a year ago. Now, Magnus Chase had been guaranteed a spot on the team for junior year, repping his same number 18 once more. He was the best defence player on the whole team, and in general, too, he was probably their best player. Coach always praised Magnus for being such a team player and putting his teammates before himself.

Magnus silently wondered what Coach would say this time, as Magnus pushed open the doors to the school hockey rink about 3 minutes into the first period. A couple heads turned to stare at him in confusion, however most simply sighed in relief as they realized it was Magnus Chase entering the rink. A lot of the parents and fans counted on him to give the Vikings some hope. One person in particular stood out to Magnus in the stands, and that was Samirah al-Abbas, Magnus' closest and probably best friend at school. She was one of the Vikings' biggest supporters, despite the fact that he parents frowned on her for enjoying a game as violent as hockey. Yet, Sam made a point of saying she was supporting her friends and nothing more. Magnus respected her immensely.

Sam noticed Magnus at the door, her brown eyes large and worried, contrasting the olive green hijab wrapped tightly around her head. She pointed to the scoreboard, and Magnus furrowed his eyebrows to notice was she was trying to say.

The scoreboard read 3-0, the 3 goals having been scored already by the Wolves.

Magnus felt his stomach sink. This was the opening game. If the Wolves won, that practically gave them bragging rights for the whole term. Magnus would not let this happen.

He sprinted into the change rooms below the seats, tossing his bag on the bench once he was inside. He tore off his clothes and replaced it with his uniform, which consisted of all of his protective padding, hockey pants, gloves, socks, tape, a neck guard, a mouth guard, and his skates, which he tied exceedingly fast. Magnus hurriedly slapped his helmet on his head, grabbed his water bottle and stick, and then rushed back out the door. Well, he rushed as much as he could while wearing skates.

Back out in the rink, the game was in full motion, meaning Magnus had to wait to get on the ice. He stood at the glass, anxiously tapping his stick against the floor as he watched the game unfold before him. It seemed like the Vikings were doing okay, until #18 on the Wolves took the puck from TJ, the Vikings' best forwards player, and shot it into the top shelf with ease from the blue line. Magnus gaped for a moment as the referee blew his whistle and signalled that yes, that kid just scored an almost impossible shot. Magnus shook his head to dissipate his shock, and opened the door to the ice, leaving the sounds of cheering Wolves supporters behind him.

Coach's angry expression was colder than the ice Magnus was skating on. Still, the blond boy skated his way over to their teams bench, nodding in thanks to the kid that opened the gate for him. Immediately, Coach stepped over and crossed his arms in a huff. "Oh, this better be good."

"I'm _late_ , I _know_ , and I'm _sorry_ , Coach, but I didn't think the Wolves would manage to score 4 goals in less than 5 minutes!" Magnus exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender as his words were slightly muffled by his mouth guard.

Coach paused for a moment, probably considering so cruel punishments to give Magnus during practice tomorrow afternoon. Instead of letting on to this, he simply said, "Get in line, Chase, and make some plays to get us back up there. Also, if this ever happens again, I will bench you."

Magnus grinned. "Sure thing, Coach."

He turned on his heel and walked down the bench, squeezing in beside Gunilla, the other defence player on his line. She was tough and aggressive, which made her a great partner for Magnus, however they also tended to butt heads for almost no reason. Still, she made good plays and was a decent player.

She cocked an eyebrow at him when he fell in line. "Nice of you to show up."

"Thanks, hopefully we'll be able to catch up to the Wolves now." Magnus replied, trying to remain positive despite her sarcastic tone.

Gunilla merely scoffed in response. Magnus took this as a sign to end their conversation.

They watched the game as it went on. At this point, the frosty chill of the rink began to creep its way into Magnus' bones, causing him to shiver slightly. Thankfully, he understood that the shivering and cold wouldn't last a second after he began skating and playing the puck. Everything seemed to fade away when he was in a game. Well, everything except the motivation and determination to win.

Eventually it came time for Magnus to play his first shift. At one point, he stopped the puck from entering their zone. He went to shoot it up the ice, but out of nowhere one of the Wolves bodychecked him into the boards and stole the puck. Magnus pushed himself up and spun around just in time to see that goddamn #18 shoot and score once again.

It was officially 5-0 for the Wolves.

Magnus could only stare in shock. That guy came from literally _nowhere_. He must've been new, because nobody on the Wolves ever had the nerve to play a move like that, or had been able to score so flawlessly time after time.

"Chase!" Coach hollered from the bench. Magnus glanced up and saw Coach shaking his head disapprovingly, his eyes scrunched tight into a nasty glare. "Do _not_ hold back."

Magnus could only nod in response before taking his position for the puck drop. The kid, #18, seemed to be centre as he was taking the face-off against TJ. He grinned maliciously at the latter boy, radiating pure intimidation. Magnus squinted as he noticed locks of dark green hair poking out from beneath his helmet. Green hair? That was definitely someone new, someone Magnus had never played against before. And he was good.

Well, not only #18. The whole entire team seemed to have stepped it up about 15 notches since last year.

As the game went on, both teams got multiple penalties, which meant that Magnus did not have the pleasure of playing the same shift as #18 again. In the end, the Wolves won as the final score was 6-3. Magnus felt beyond ashamed and embarrassed. He could've done more, he could've tried harder, he could've—

"Magnus." Coach shouted, shaking the blond boy from his torment of thoughts. Magnus came back to reality and noticed he was the last one on the ice. "I need to talk to you."

Magnus gulped, pressure weighing heavily on his shoulders. He skated off the ice and glanced up at his coach, who was surprisingly more exasperated than angry. "Coach—"

"No excuses, Magnus, please. Anyways, I have a theory. And I need a favour. Can you meet me tomorrow morning before class?" Coach asked, rubbing his forehead almost tiredly. Magnus, confused and beyond curious, nodded slowly. Coach sighed in relief before giving him a smile of gratitude before walking down into the change room.

Magnus stared in shock for a moment before he turned and saw Sam bounding down the steps to come greet him. She didn't seem too happy or excited, but she still grinned when she met him. "Good game, Magnus."

"Yeah right," He scoffed in reply. "I sucked. I've never played that bad before."

"You didn't play bad, it's just that the Wolves got better. There's something fishy going on with them, I think." Sam explained, narrowing her eyes at some of the Wolves players who were beginning to exit the change rooms, all of which were glowing with happiness from the win. Magnus wondered how grumpy he must've looked in comparison to them.

"They definitely have gotten better. I'll just have to train more, I guess." Magnus said, sighing in defeat.

"That could start with you bulking up more, scrawny." Sam said in a joking manner, earning a chuckle from Magnus. "Wanna go to Fadlan's for a later dinner?"

The mention of Fadlan's Falafel made Magnus' mood go from 0 to 100 in half a second, momentarily allowing him to forget about the tragic loss. "Definitely. I'll have to shower and put my equipment in the storage room by Coach's classroom. Wanna meet me there?"

"Sounds good. See you in a bit!" Sam said, giving him one last sheepish grin before stalking off out of the rink and into the school.

With nothing but some fantastic falafel on his mind, Magnus finally began to make his way into the change room, but was interrupted once more. This time, by someone he did not want to speak to.

"Oh, so you're the infamous Magnus Chase? Golden boy of the Vikings?" A voice said from behind him. Magnus spun around and came face to face with none other than #18.

He was a lot shorter without his skates on, Magnus first realized. He must've been at least a few inches shorter than Magnus himself was. His green hair was wet with sweat, matted in curly tufts to his tanned forehead. His eyes appeared to be two different colours, and Magnus would've been drawn to that, but it was this guy's outfit that stood out to him most of all. He was proudly clad in tight pink skinny jeans, an a baggy lime green hoodie with the Wolves' logo printed on front. How he managed to get such a sweater when the Wolves' team colours were blue and white, Magnus didn't really want to find out.

"Yeah, I'm Magnus. It's… nice to meet you." Magnus said carefully, because honestly he was unsure what was customary in these types of situations.

"The name's Alex Fierro. I wanted to introduce myself so you could remember my name when I literally and metaphorically crush you each upcoming game." He said, flicking his hair out of his eyes. Magnus furrowed his eyebrows in a mix of both confusion and complete and utter shock.

"Look, dude, I don't exactly want to be on the bad side of some guy I just met." Magnus began, making a point of turning towards his dressing room.

"I'm a girl, actually, but you've already been on my bad side. Everyone says that you're the best high school hockey player in Boston and I wanted to prove them wrong. Now's my chance." Alex explained in a fake-nice voice.

Magnus frowned. "You think you're better than me?"

Alex grinned. "I _know_ I'm better than you."

"When's the next time we play each other?"

"Next Tuesday, 3pm."

"Well, Alex Fierro," Magnus said, with a slight smirk on his lips. "Looks like you've got yourself a rival."

Alex let out a bemused chuckle, and Magnus found himself laughing along with her. She waved goodbye and then Magnus was left to finally get undressed and shower. He wanted nothing more than to cleanse away the loss he had endured that game. However, in the shower, all he could think about was Alex Fierro. She was snarky and all too confident, yet Magnus found himself eager to play against her next week.

Until then, he planned to work hard and improve as much as he could, so he could show Alex Fierro who exactly was the best.


	2. Chapter 2

When Magnus got home that night, spending time with Sam and eating falafel had totally, if not completely, wiped away his horrible feelings associated with letting his team down and losing to the Wolves.

That was, until he got home.

"There he is!" a voice called out, presumably from the kitchen area. Magnus decided to make his way there as the voice continued. "Magnus Chase, hero of the Vikings! How badly did you crush the Wolves, kid?"

Magnus froze.

Now fully in the kitchen of the small suburban home, Magnus came face to face with his two legal guardians, Blitzen and Hearthstone. They were seated at the small, circular dining table, two mugs of steaming tea between them. Magnus' stomach churned uncomfortably.

"Um," Magnus said, hesitating his words. He immediately noticed their excited expressions switch to confusion. Magnus brought his hands up to sign for Hearth's sake and replied, "We lost, really badly. My fault."

"What?" Blitz exclaimed, evidently shocked, just as Hearth signed, _Why your fault?_

Magnus shook his head, his lower lip being subconsciously bitten between his teeth. "I guess we're rusty. I could've done more."

Blitz and Hearth shared a nervous glance, before Blitz himself let out a shallow sigh. "Well, if it's training you're worried about, you'll be glad to know that that old grouch Helgi down the street is about to start setting up the ODR for the season."

At this statement, Magnus perked up. Helgi was, in fact, some old grouch that lived in a tiny house on a giant lot down the street from Magnus, Blitz, and Hearth. He was truly frightening to see in person, what with his giant, stringy beard and mess of dying hair. However, because of some weird family tradition he never actually fully disclosed, Helgi found it in his best interest to fill up the remainder of his yard with an public outdoor rink for anybody to use at any time, seeing as how Helgi worked a sketchy full-time job which required him to almost never be in his home. Magnus adored the time he spent with his teammates at the ODR, and he couldn't wait until his skates met the fresh ice this year.

He briefly wondered if Alex Fierro lived nearby.

"That's great news actually." Magnus said, and spared a passing glance at his guardians. "I'm gonna go to bed now, though."

They nodded understandingly and let him be on his way. Magnus was insanely grateful to have a pair of guardians as caring and kind as Blitz and Hearth. After everything that happened with his mom and his dad, he never thought he'd experience life within a happy family ever again. He was especially grateful to have a home to share with his relatively new family.

As Magnus fell asleep that night, he dreamed of only good things.

Magnus strolled into third period Health class with slight anxiety coursing through his veins. He could barely focus all morning as the thought of just what exactly Coach's 'theory' would be. Did he think the Wolves cheated somehow? Magnus didn't believe that — they probably just practiced more than the Vikings did during off season. That was completely fair and Magnus definitely wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge.

He entered the classroom and immediately saw Sam and TJ talking and laughing at their seats in the second row of desks. They waved him over with bright grins on their faces but Magnus had to wave them off for a moment as he made his way over to Coach's desk.

Coach was sitting there, messing around on his laptop, or maybe he was inputting the online attendance. Magnus noted the dark circles under the man's eyes. His greying hair was unusually rumpled. He also seemed to be biting his nails out of a nervous habit. Magnus could only assume the tragic loss against the Wolves yesterday had kept him up all night.

"Coach?" Magnus asked tentatively, grasping the strap of his backpack. "You, uh… wanted to see me?"

Coach jumped, startled at the presence of the young hockey player, however he quickly regained his composure and sighed. "Yes, right.. Magnus, what class do you have next?"

Magnus frowned. That is not what he was expecting at all.

"I have lunch next, actually, but then I have biology… Why?" Magnus questioned, furrowing his eyebrows in complete confusion.

"Perfect! Hm…" Coach tapped away at his keyboard for a moment, before glancing back at Magnus with inquiring eyes. "How would you like to be giving permission to skip this period to do me a favour."

"Uh…" Magnus stammered. He glanced over at Sam and TJ, who were mimicking his confused expression. "Depends… on what the favour is?"

"Good answer." Coach said with a slight laugh. "See, I have reason to believe that the coach of the Wolves is secretly a drug dealer and is sharing steroids with the kids on the team."

Magnus staggered back in shock. Some of the kids on the Wolves were… yeah, pretty large and tough for their age, but he'd met Alex Fierro sans hockey gear and she did not appear to be abusing steroids in any sort of way. Unless she refused to take them and her teammates did the opposite? But even then, Alex was without a doubt the best player on their team.

Magnus shook his head to clear his thoughts and faced his Coach once more. "You sound kinda paranoid there, Coach."

The older man laughed again. "Well, maybe I am. That's why I'm giving you permission to skip class so that you can sneak into the Wolves' lunch time practice and scope them out. See what their hiding."

" _Scope them out?_ You mean like _spy_ on them?" Magnus exclaimed in pure shock. He would didn't like skipping class and he didn't exactly have a ride to the school that was over two miles away. He glanced back over at his two friends and said, "Can I bring Sam and TJ?"

Coach nodded. "Yeah, sure, just make sure you get to the bottom of this for me, will you?"

"Right on, Coach," Magnus replied with an anxious grin. He made his way over to his friends, finally, and smacked his hands on their desks. "Wanna come spy on the Wolves with me?"

It took a little convincing but soon enough the three friends made their way out of third period Health class with hesitant steps. Immediately after exiting the classroom, they crashed into Gunilla, who was moments away from entering. She glowered at them, with her sharp eyebrows and daunting glare. "What are you losers dong? Class starts in, like, two seconds."

"We're, uh, going to spy on the Wolves," Magnus stated simply, deciding it was best not to lie in a situation like that.

Gunilla peered at him skeptically. " _Spy?_ "

Magnus, TJ, and Sam all nodded without further comment.

"Count me in."

***

Sam pulled her car up to a stop in front of the rink that was located next to the school. A large mural of the Wolves' logo was painted on the wall outside; a wolf head, barring sharp fangs and glowing yellow eyes. Magnus shivered at the sight.

"So, what's our plan of action?" TJ probed from his location in the backseat, directly behind Sam."We can't just waltz into their rink and sit down."

"No, of course not. That's why we brought Sam." Magnus said jokingly, earning a dramatic eye roll from the girl mentioned. "You all know Sam's like, a stealth ninja. She never gets caught sneaking around."

"Plus I've been in the bleachers of this rink more times than I can count watching you guys play." Sam added, giving the group an affirming glance. "Our safest option would be to go through the back door, since it has stairs that lead right to the top of the away side seats. We could probably watch from there without getting caught."

Magnus grinned. "Told you."

Sam rolled her eyes again. "I'm just gonna say here and now that if we get caught you cannot blame me."

Gunilla smirked. "Of course. Obviously we're blaming Magnus."

"Hey!" Magnus said in shock, as Sam and TJ stifled their laughter. "Let's just… agree to not get caught."

The rest nodded in agreement.

They exited Sam's car and were met with a harsh cold breeze. Magnus tugged his sleeves over his hands and began making his way towards the back door of the rink, his friends following close behind. The school was to their left, and it was noticeably packed with kids going in and out whilst on their lunch break. That meant that the Wolves' lunch time practice was in full swing.

The back door was fortunately unlocked, and Sam ushered them inside and up the concrete staircase. It was creepily silent and insanely cold inside the building which made Magnus all the more nervous about the whole situation. It was one thing to assume that the team was taking steroids but to actually spy on them in the attempt to collect evidence? It was a little overwhelming, but Magnus was determined to get the job done.

They reached the top of the staircase and Sam motioned for them to get low, and so they followed suit and crouched down in order to not be seen when they turned to corner to enter the rink.

Magnus wasn't sure what he was expecting. Well, actually, he was expecting to see the Wolves on the ice in full practice mode. He was not expecting to be met with a completely empty rink. Suddenly the complete silence made sense.

TJ stood up. "There's nobody here."

"Nice going, Magnus." Gunilla commented, folding her arms as she stood up as well, and Sam and Magnus did the same.

"Coach said they had a lunch time practice." Magnus defended. "Guess he was wrong? Or they cancelled today or something?"

"Or they actually have off-ice practice today."

Magnus jumped in surprise from the voice behind him. He quickly spun around and came face to face, once again, with Alex Fierro. She was grinning devilishly, sweat gleaming at her temples and across her forehead. She was wearing the same lime green Wolves hoodie as yesterday, but this time she had paired it with athletic shorts and sneakers, both of which were pink. Magnus would have been fine confronting just Alex, except this time she wasn't alone. Two of her teammates were by her sides.

One was an incredibly large guy who had bulging muscles and a full on ginger beard on his chin. He was covered in scars and had a evil glint in his eyes. Magnus gulped in fear just at the mere sight of that guy. The other one was a girl, who was only slightly taller than Alex but equally as frightening as the other guy, what with her mysterious green eyes and judgemental glare. Her hair was bright red and pulled back into a tight ponytail.

Magnus didn't know what to say. They'd been caught, just like his friends feared would happen. That also meant that Magnus was to blame, according to Gunilla, so that meant he had to get them out of there.

"Uh… 'sup?" Magnus said lamely. He heard Sam smack her forehead behind him.

"'Sup yourself, Chase." Alex said with a grin. She crossed her arms and took a step closer, and Magnus had to stop himself from taking a step backwards. "What are you doing in our rink?"

"If I said we were here to spy on you would you believe me?" Magnus asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Alex glanced between her two teammates before replying, "That depends. Why would you need to spy on us?"

"Because…" Magnus began, but then hesitated. He couldn't just flat out tell Alex his coach thought her coach was a drug dealer. It was a stupid theory and Magnus could recognize that. Luckily, Gunilla came to the rescue.

"Hey, wait, green hair," She exclaimed, pointing at Alex. "I know you! You're #18, the one with the wicked slapshot."

Alex grinned. "And your #5, Magnus' defence partner."

Gunilla smiled back. "It's nice to meet you! I thoroughly enjoy how you pummel Chase every chance you get."

Magnus gave her a _Really?_ look but he genuinely was not surprised in the slightest.

"And you two," TJ piped up, pointing at Alex's friends. "Your #11 and #19, you play left and right wing with #18 here."

"Correct; I'm Mallory, and that's Halfborn," The girl with the red hair said. "I'm not really sure who you two are, though? Must not have made any memorable plays not the ice, I guess."

Magnus stared incredulously at her, half because of the way she said something so rude with absolutely no hesitation, and half because she had a thick Irish accent lacing her words.

TJ was beyond offended, whereas Sam just shrugged and said, "I don't even play hockey."

"We should crush these Vikings for trying to spy on us," The guy, Halfborn, said, and his voice was exactly as deep and terrifying as Magnus had imagined. He also seemed to have an accent as well, although Magnus couldn't put his finger on what it was. Norwegian maybe, or possibly Swedish?

Since when did the Wolves have so many foreign students?

"Look, Maggie," Alex said, and Magnus felt his stomach rotate in what he assumed to be disgust at the use of the nickname. "I'll let you Vikings go without crushing you, but you owe me."

"Owe you what, though?" Magnus inquired, hiding the fact that he was insanely grateful that they would not be crushed by the hands of the Halfborn dude.

"Well, I'm not going to decide that right now. I'll get back to you." Alex smirked. "Now, go, before I tell my coach on you losers."

Magnus, TJ, Gunilla, and Sam did not hesitant further in darting out of the rink like their lives depended on it. He heard Mallory call after them, "See you at the game on Tuesday!"

When they got to the car, they were all out of breath from sprinting. They got inside the vehicle and collapsed into their seats. Before she started the car, Sam turned to Magnus, who was beside her in the passenger seat. "Magnus," She said, taking a deep inhale. "Why did it seem like you're.. friends, with the guy with the green hair?"

"We're rivals, duh," Magnus said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world although he was well aware his friends had no idea what he was talking about. "But we also met. At the last game. Her name is Alex Fierro."

"She seems to have a soft spot for you." Sam commented, as she finally started the car and cranked the heat so they could warm up some.

"Yeah, right," TJ scoffed. "She bodychecked Magnus so hard the last game I thought she was trying to kill you."

Gunilla and Sam shared a laugh as if Magnus' demise was a hilarious topic. Magnus rolled his eyes.

"But, hey, good news," Magnus said. He noted his friends curious expressions and he continued,

"I think I know the secret that the Wolves are hiding."


	3. Chapter 3

**Shorter chapter, sorry about tht, but the next one will be uploaded v soon! please leave a review! :)**

"It is… plausible." Coach said, rubbing his chin in thought. He stood before the Vikings, Magnus included, who were on the ice in full gear, seconds away from starting their Tuesday after-school game against the Wolves.

Magnus had told Coach about the new, more likely theory last week, after him and his friends had returned from spying on the Wolves and encountering Alex, Mallory, and Halfborn. After relaying the theory to him, Coach said that he would further look into it. Which he, obviously, did not do. The game was about to start and Coach was pondering the theory as if he had just learned about it.

"Yeah, it makes way more sense than your crack-head drug dealer theory," Gunilla replied assertively, taking her mouth guard out of her mouth to do so. "The Wolves' coach recruiting the best high school players from different countries under the alibi of foreign exchange is more than _plausible_. Probably because it's the truth."

"Gunilla's right, sir," Magnus continued on, stepping up to the front of the group. "Is that even legal, though? Can't we expose them and get them disqualified from the league or something?"

"We need evidence, kid." Coach said, just as the buzzer went off, signalling the beginning of their two minute warm up. He nodded towards the ice, and the kids hesitated before skating off.

Magnus momentarily peered over his shoulder at the Wolves, who were taking shots at their goalie. He subconsciously kept his eye open for #18, and caught sight of her just as she took a wicked slap-shot that landed top corner. That seemed the be Alex's specialty: an incredibly powerful shot that somehow defied any and all laws of physics in order to land in the net from any angle or position. Magnus was a defense player, meaning he had to have a fairly decent slapshot in case he was ever passed the puck on the blue line. Magnus' slapshot, however, was average at best. Whenever the puck came to him he was more accustomed to passing it to someone like Gunilla, who had a shot that could at least have a chance of landing in the net.

The warm up went by all too fast, in Magnus' opinion. Soon enough the two minutes were up and Magnus was taking his position for the starting puck drop. He heard the crowd in the bleachers cheering and clapping. he knew for sure Sam was up there, watching intensely. He wondered if Blitz and Hearth had been able to close up shop early and come to the game. He hoped they did.

His attention was turned towards Alex, who skated up to take the face-off. _Great_ , Magnus thought. It was time to show Alex just how good of a player he actually was. _Finally._

Grinning, Magnus bent his knees and gripped his stick tightly, waiting intently for the game to start. The referee blew his whistle. Alex and TJ, who was taking the face-off for the Vikings, both held their sticks parallel to each other. The puck was dropped, and the game began.

TJ won the face-off and passed it backwards. Magnus sprang foreward and grabbed the puck, taking a milisecond the glance upward to see where his teammates were. Gunilla was open, and TJ was edging towards the blue line. He assumed Gunilla would see the same thing and quickly passed it over to her.

Just as he did so, #19 on the Wolves came over and bodychecked Magnus so hard he actually toppled over onto the ice. Magnus gasped, the wind completely knocked out of him, and he got up once again just in time to see Halfborn giving him a menacing smile from a few feet away.

His pass had made it to Gunilla, and it seemed as though she had, in fact, passed it up to TJ. Magnus skated up to the Wolves' end of the ice just in time to see TJ take a shot on net. Unfortunately, their goalie caught it in their glove and a whistle was blown. Magnus was vageuly aware of the cheering coming from the bleachers but it was hard to register the noise when adrenaline was thumping loudly in his ears.

They had another faceoff in the Wolves' end of the ice. TJ got the puck and once again passed it back to Magnus. It was a simple, perfectly executed pass that should have been near impossible to miss, and yet Magnus took one glance upwards, caught sight of Alex, and fumbled the puck. It slid out past the blue line, and before Magnus had a chance to skate over and shoot it back in, Alex came flying forwards and snatched the puck just in time to blow by Magnus on a breakaway.

Magnus felt his heart beating in his throat as he pushed forward at an incomprehensible speed to catch up to Alex. His blades dug sharply into the ice as he gained more momentum with every stride. Just as Alex got the puck past the Vikings' blue line, Magnus took one last full-strength push forward and collided with her up against the boards in a clean bodycheck. The only downside was that the puck was currently trapped between Alex's feet.

"Step _off_ , Magnus," Alex growled, low and intimidating. Magnus felt heat rush to his cheeks but he held his ground, with his stance wide and all of his strength in his shoulder as he dug it into Alex's chest, preventing her from moving at all. Magnus couldn't get his stick to the puck so in a last resort attempt to get it away from Alex and the Wolves, he pressed the blade of his skate on to the puck and kicked it backward.

He turned his head and pushed off of Alex, just in time to see the puck fly straight onto Mallory's stick.

"No, no!" Magnus called out, skating towards the net, where he was supposed to be positioned. Luckily Gunilla made it to Mallory in time to shove her out of line with the net, forcing the Wolves player to pass over to another one of her teammates.

By now all 5 players from the Wolves were in the zone, wanting nothing more than to get the puck in the net that was only a mere few feet away. It was passed around and dangled on and off of the Wolves's sticks. Magnus remained close to the net, making attempts to get the puck away whenever they got to close. Unfortunately, Alex also made a point of standing right over against him, trying to get the upperhand. She was pushing and shoving Magnus with the determination to get him to miss the puck, so she could take it and score with ease.

It was a move you saw at every hockey game, all teams had a player who was supposed to try this kind of tactic at the net. And, if you were skilled enough, you could screen the goalie at the same time, making it easier for your teammates to score. Magnus was used to this. Every game he found himself in this situation, sometime multiple times in one period. Yet, he wasn't used to it being Alex, his self-proclaimed _rival_ , trying desperately to get him to mess up.

Magnus soon enough became consumed with thoughts of Alex and lost total concentration on the puck. He found himself glaring at Alex's wisps of damp green hair clinging to her sweaty neck; the bolded number 18 stitched onto the back of her jersey; and the graphic depiction of a wolf, their team logo, glaring at him with cruel, gleaming eyes and a snarling set of fangs. Something lurched inside Magnus' throat, completely caught off guard from the game around him.

It took him a moment to realize Alex had gotten the puck. She skated to the left, quick as a flash, and took a shot.

Top corner.

 _How?_ Magnus let his shoulders slump in defeat. Mixed emotions of gut-wrenching guilt, fiery rage, and complete desolation. That goal was Magnus's fault, and his fault alone.

Last year, Magnus had been the idolized, number one best high school hockey player in the state, and probably in the entire east coast, as well. People would go out of their way to watch him play a game. Some younger kids would even ask him for pictures. Now, Magnus couldn't even catch a pass properly, let alone stop the puck from going in the net at all. He'd fallen to an all time low, and he wasn't sure if there was any way of coming back up.

"Don't worry about it, Magnus," TJ said, jolting Magnus from his inner torment of negative thoughts and emotions. He placed a comforting hand on Magnus's shoulder and offered a caring smile. "We'll get 'em back."

"Will we, though?" This time it was Gunilla who spoke. Magnus inwardly cringed at her sharp tone. "Magnus, you need to step it up. Or I'm asking Coach to switch my line."

Magnus staggered. The referee blew the whistle, signalling that the next face-off was about to start. Coach waved them over to the bench, as they needed to switch who was on the ice. As Magnus found himself sitting on the bench, he found that Gunilla's words wouldn't leave his head. It used to be that the other players literally had fights over Magnus and begged Coach to let them play with him. Now, Gunilla was actually on the brink of voluntarily switching off of Magnus's line. He needed to step it up, like she said.

Now, more than ever before.


End file.
